MALTiple Choice

by Emily

I don’t know where my day went this morning but I didn’t manage to eat until way into the afternoon. Actually that’s sort of a lie, a lot of my morning went to this –

Did anyone else read Phyllis Renolds Naylor’s Alice series growing up? I was obsessed, and since the series still isn’t finished (the final book will be published in 2013) I’ve continued to read. My mom knows that there are few presents more exciting to me than a fresh Alice book.

Also exciting is a free coffee from the Dunkin’ Donuts birthday rewards program.

Since it was a “gift” I went all out; a medium iced coffee with skim milk, sugar-free toasted almond, and sugar-free coconut.

Totally worth the headache it left me with all afternoon. I don’t know when I’ll figure out that drinking coffee without eating makes me sick.

However, eating was the next stop on our string of errands (post office, DD, Goodwill, Wegmans).

I snagged several types of chicken – picked through for extra veggies – and some of the chilli garlic eggplant I’m obsessed with.

Is there a more perfect fuel than hot bar?

Adam and I took a walk to the Co-op to finish our grocery shopping later in the afternoon and I grabbed a ‘smores bar from The Spot.

I swear we had plans to make dinner like grown-ups, but Incredibly Alice was screaming my name and I just had to finish it. By the time I returned to the real world it was too late for a real dinner. Good thing I had multiple kinds of malt at my fingertips.

First, beer.

8% alcohol beer in the form of Wild Blue.

I want to love blueberry beers, but I just never do. This wasn’t bad but it was a little too sweet for my tastes. I drank about half of it. What I do love is pouring beer into to-go cups and drinking on neighborhood walks.

I know it sounds rebellious but really I just grew up on an island with no open-container laws and fell in love with walk-boozing before it was illegal.

Malt number two was poured on my french fries.

Waffle fries from ETS plus roasted green bean fries for veg.

Mmmmn, malty!

Malt vinegar on french fries: love it or leave it?

25Jul2011

The Great Fundraising Act – Get Your Bid On

by Emily

I know yesterday was an important day (my 26th birthday, ha) but today’s date was the one starred on my calendar. It’s time for the bidding to begin on The Great Fundraising Act. If you haven’t heard, TGFA was started by Janetha at Meals and Moves to help raise money for Susan, a fellow blogger, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. It’s an amazing cause, set up for one awesome blogger by another, and there are lots of great deals available. Please head over to the live auction today to check it out.

I’m doing my part by baking up a batch of sugar cookie balls.

If you’d like a chance to try my balls for yourself, you can bid here until 10:40 EST today!

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I made a couple of mistakes this morning, as is fitting for a Monday. I made a mistake when I hit my snooze button because it made me late. I made a mistake when I slammed this white chocolate macadamia Luna Bar on the walk to yoga because it made me nauseas.

Good flavor though.

I made a mistake when I thought the 9:30 class this morning was my typical warm yoga because what I was really rushing to was the (harder, hotter, longer) 90 minute, 105* class.

That wasn’t really a mistake though, more like a helpful push from the universe. I was too afraid to try the hot yoga class on my own, but once I was there I loved it. I probably spent a third of the class in child’s pose but I still got in a great workout. I’m not going to give up the warm 60 minute class entirely, but I will be back.

After yoga I had to shower and clean the house, but then I finally sat down for lunch.

I dressed my leftovers from yesterday’s salad with Newman’s Own Light Caesar.

The beets made everything a little pink, but since I kept the dressing off until today my salad was still nice and crispy.

On the side I enjoyed some local cherries in a new birthday gift bowl.

This lunch and breakfast set was on the small side for me but after I run some errands I’ve got my eye on an afternoon baking project and I’m sure I’ll make up the calories.

23Jul2011

Teddy Bear Tie Dye

by Emily

My last day as a 25-year-old has been a good one; though after yoga our morning got off to an ironic and frustrating start. I heard a rumor about a Teddy Bear Picnic so I strapped my bears into the car and headed out.

Sidenote – I hate stuffed animals (always have) but I spotted this guy on sale my sophmore year in college and just had to buy him for Adam. The husband (who also hates stuffed animals) named him Rutherford and fell in love. Our obsession with bears has bloomed from there.

We did not develop an obsession with Old Falls Street today though, since after 20 fruitless minutes of searching we never located our picnic. Instead we drove back to the city to cash in a Living Social deal at Tea Leaf Cafe.

I’m so glad we were forced here instead; adorable set-up, cheap prices, and delicious food. We’ll be back soon.

Our deal was for two drinks and two small plates. Adam went with an avocado milk tea.

He doesn’t know the joy that is boba.

I, on the other hand, am obsessed with all things tapioca and requested extra bubbles in my taro milk tea.

It can’t quite compare to China Town in Boston where they mash real strawberries into your tea, but this was the best boba I’ve had in recent years! The tea wasn’t too sweet and the boba were the perfect texture.

Adam and I split the two side plates equally.

Chicken and fresh mushroom pan-seared dumplings.

Vegetarian shiitake spring rolls.

Again, the best version of these foods I’ve had since moving to Buffalo. Locals – get thee to Tea Leaf Cafe!

Rutherford was stuffed,

but Adam and I decided to round out our meal with some fruits and veggies.

Roasted mushroom, squash, and the world’s bitterist eggplant that I ate only because it was healthy,

blueberries, pineapple, strawberries, and watermelon so juicy I’d eat it even if I was stuffed.

I dropped my boys at home and then headed out to partay. My friend Mary-Kate actually had her birthday this week too and she hosted a tie dye fest. It was tons of fun but I wasn’t sure how the guests I didn’t know would feel about their photos on the internet so I don’t have any pictures. I will show you my shirt when it finishes drying tomorrow. And I will also show you the amazing rainbow cake that Emily made –

Eeek! I was seriously impressed. I don’t actually like the taste of cake that much though (no matter how cute it is) so I ate half of this piece plus a glass of Blueberry Lemonade Stoli and called it a day.

Adam and I took a walk down Elmwood and ran a few errands, and before I knew it dinner time had arrived. I can’t think of a more fitting way to end my 25th year than this –

See you from 26!

17Jul2011

Canada to Collapse

by Emily

Whew; what a day, what a day! When we start a vacation in my family we do it right! My 1 am bedtime and 7 am wake up were enough to make anyone tired, but our walking tour of Canada is what did me in. It sure was fun though.

My dad and I started our morning with a walk to Starbucks.

Grande iced coffee with skim milk for me. We stopped at the Farmer’s Market on the way back and made breakfast extra delicious.

A serving of Cinnamon Puffins, a serving of All Bran Bran Buds, ultra-fresh black raspberries and skim milk.

This might be the best bowl of cereal I’ve had in this lifetime.

After the general fun of getting 4 people with 1 bathroom ready, we were on the road to Canada! 3 hours into what should have been a 2 hour drive every in the car was ready to muzzle me, but my cranky pants came off in a hurry when we finally reached our intended destination –

Menchies! What’s Menchies? Only the self-serve froyo place that completely stole my heart in Orlando.

I got Canadian maple and original tart froyo, topped with coconut, skor pieces, rainbow sprinkles, and strawberry bobba.

I wish I could remember the exact name of the bobba but it was something like “popping bobba” and it was maybe the most exciting thing I’ve ever eaten. Sort of like big, soft pop rocks?

Amazing.

I actually got traditional bobba as well, since my next stop was for bubble tea!

Taro milk tea with tapioca.

What else can I say except amazing?

We spent the afternoon walking around Chinatown and the Fashion District and it was, dare I say it, amazing.

So many fun things to look at, I love exploring new cities! Toronto has beautiful (new?!) architecture and is an amazing spot for people watching.

We ended up at Spring Rolls a Pan Asian spot for dinner.

I ate one fried wonton from our shared appetizer.

And for dinner I ordered the vegetarian Thai Spicy Noodle – extra veggies, extra spicy – which were similar to my beloved Pad See Eiw.

Flat rice noodle stir-fried with basil leaf, eggplant, chili, onion and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Since I ordered extra veggies I ended up with bok choy and lots of broccoli. And since I ordered Thai spicy I ended up with a completely spice-free dish minus one clump of chili peppers hidden in a bok choy that made me cry and cough until tears were running down my cheeks.

Still good though.

The drive back home was much less painful and before I knew it we were dropping my parents off at their hotel. I can’t wait to see what we do tomorrow!

Do I have many Canadian readers? Say hi, please!

11Jul2011

Two Weeks Too Early

by Emily

I want to tell you that I ate a late lunch because I had a meeting, but really this is a late lunch post because I sat for 30 minutes waiting for a meeting that’s actually not scheduled for another two weeks. Whoops! I think I was so excited about getting started on the study I’m participating in that I somehow missed the July 25th part of our Monday meeting. I tell you more about the study when I know more… in 2 weeks!

Breakfast came right on time; from the taste of it blueberries are having their moment this month.

That’s two servings of cinnamon Puffins with skim milk and a big handful of blueberries.

My aunt introduced me to the cinnamon Puffin and blueberry combo and it’s pretty genius.

Eating before yoga – for me at least – was genius as well. I know a lot of people like to practice with an empty stomach, but having a little fuel made the class a lot easier for me. I couldn’t necessarily stay in (or even start!) all of the poses, but I didn’t have to stop to rest once! 60 minutes of 90* yoga, done and done. As I tweeted on the walk home, I think I’m really going to like this month –

I thought I had a 2 o’clock meeting, so I took the world’s fastest shower and scurried over to campus right after yoga. I was starving so I ate a Vanilla Almond Luna Bar on my way.

After 30 of the longest minutes of my life it occurred to me to check my e-mail and I realized I was an idiot. A hungry idiot. When I got home I snacked on a serving of Chip’ins with salsa while I waited for my lunch to get done in the oven.

My oven roasted lunch was worth the wait.

Green bean fries,

and corn on the cob.

My socks are officially rocked that I can make corn in the oven, the only thing keeping me from eating it every day was the fact that I hate dirtying a pot for something Adam won’t even eat with me. Per my Google search, I slathered the naked corn cob with Smart Balance Light, secured it in a tin foil packet, and baked at 450* for 25 minutes.

I’d love to try corn on the grill, but alas, we have no grill. How do you cook your corn?

9Jul2011

Taste of Buffalo

by Emily

It’s been a fabulous Saturday! It’s always great spending time with the husband (he’ll have most weekends off during this section of his clerkship) but it was nice to have fun activities to do as well.

After yoga I had to shower, go to the campus library to do some printing, go to the post office, and go to the bank before I could get my hands on some food. Thank goodness our first fun activity was the Taste of Buffalo, a food festival with offerings from all the local restaurants.

We bought 30 tickets (ie spent $15) and we’re very impressed with what we were able to get on such a cheap date.

Buffalo natives – if you haven’t been yet please keep in mind that Adam used more than half of our tickets so my food eaten isn’t totally representative of $7.50 spent.

P.S. I need to be honest about what a ~~fatty~~ dork I am; I printed off the menu from the website and arrived at the festival with a circled, highlighted list –

Adam and I shared and I ended up with many fun bites. One bite of fried cheese ravioli from Cecelia’s.

One tiny bourbon glazed shrimp from The Grill at the Dome, which was the biggest waste of money of the day.

A small glass of berry chai smoothie that Lipton was handing out for free. This free sample was actually the 2nd best thing I had all day!

Adam and I split this smoked bourbon chicken sandwich from Chester’s Cajun grill and it was the #1 favorite for both of us.

Half of a gourmet watermelon popsicle from Sweet Melody. This was delicious and I wish I could have downed the whole thing but it was just too drippy.

Among other things the husband also tried catfish nuggets and a huge cup of Cuban roasted pork. We definitely discovered a few restaurants that we want to go check out.

We parked near our old apartment and walked to the fair which meant we got in a little more than 2 miles in total wandering. It was just hot enough that stopping at The Spot for a diet pop on the walk back was pretty damn exciting.

As we talked about our favorite bites we realized that I hadn’t actually gotten all that much to eat (Adam was stuffed!), so I grabbed hot bar when we were picking up groceries.

Peak of season delicious watermelon and pineapple,

plus a random assortment of veggies.

During our downtime this afternoon I also snacked on a serving of coffee ice cream with blueberries and chocolate syrup.

You wouldn’t expect that combo to work but it totally did.

Dinner was also an expected win.

Breaded buffalo chicken – Marinate. Roll in panko. Bake at 350* for 38 minutes. Eat dipped in blue cheese dressing.

Plus asparagus that we threw into the oven during the chicken’s last 20 minutes.

The chicken was taken totally over the top thanks to a sample of KC Masterpiece Buffalo Marinade from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s Program.

I always forget how much marinating does for the texture of chicken, it was like butter! The marinade itself was tasty too, a nice vinegary buffalo without an excess of spice.

For our evening entertainment we cashed in a Groupon for a Broadway light show at the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium (conveniently located on my campus).

I really don’t want to share my opinion because Adam and I actually hate most musicals, which obviously colors our review. I will say that the show was not the most exciting hour I’ve ever spent, and Adam claims to be having Vietnam War-esque flashbacks. The high point of the activity was that the husband and I got to say planet-AIR-ium to each other a million times. <– don’t get it? watch this.

2Jul2011

Psych!

by Emily

I know I said I was going home. As I got into my car this morning I thought “I could be fun to stay longer…,” so I did! I’ll go home tomorrow.

I think my delicious breakfast helped to put me in the vacation mood.

0% Plain Greek Gods Yogurt with berries, plucot, and the last of the Great Harvest Granola.

So sad!

My last bowl with it was fantastic though.

I was super glad I stayed when we ventured to a great outdoor mall (I snagged the perfect shoes for my hospital rotation) and spotted this –

First we had lunch. This is a half portion (I split with my mom) of poached eggs with hollandaise, potato, spinach, asparagus, and artichoke.

Pretty good, but dessert was better.

I seriously don’t know what I’m going to do in Buffalo for the next year without froyo?!

After some more family time, we headed to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. I snagged one of these cheddar biscuits.

And went seafood delight for dinner.

I was seriously shocked by how good this food was; I must have exclaimed how much I enjoyed my meal at least five times during dinner!

Grilled green beans,

grilled zucchini,

and grilled bbq salmon with shrimp.

Yum, yum, yum; the zucchini was my favorite.

Ok, now I promise to go home tomorrow!

1Jul2011

Grog Not Groggy

by Emily

After my run this morning I joined my parents for an hour and a half bike ride. I burnt the crap out of my forearms yesterday so I ended up biking in 85* weather in this –

Worth it. We rode all around the path and over some gorgeous bridges. I so wish I’d had my camera but I couldn’t figure out a place to put it.

We came home for a refreshing breakfast.

0% Plain Greek Gods Yogurt with a strawberry honey straw, blueberries, peach, and Great Harvest granola.

I have maybe a half serving of granola left and my heart is breaking.

Getting lunch was not my strong suit today and I will admit that I was a little cranky this afternoon. We did do some fun things though, like explore a neat farmer’s market.